Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has partnered with OX.DH, a health tech supplier affiliated with the University of Oxford, to introduce a new virtual consultations solution.
Somerset FT incorporates acute, community and mental health and disability services across Somerset as well as Symphony Healthcare Services which runs a quarter of GP practices in the county.
The platform successfully went live in March across all Somerset FT services, to enable patients to have video consultations with Somerset FT clinicians and healthcare teams, replacing the current virtual consultation tool and enhancing the overall patient experience, the trust said.
The OX.DH digital health platform has been developed using Microsoft Azure infrastructure, leveraging the national NHS investment in Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft Teams, which is already widely used across the trust. This trust highlighted that the integration ensures a seamless and secure virtual consultation experience for both patients and clinicians.
“We are delighted to partner with OX.DH. Embracing innovative technology is at the heart of our commitment to provide accessible and high-quality healthcare to our community. This initiative will empower our patients with more convenient ways to connect with our clinicians, and we are confident it will significantly enhance their experience with our Trust,” said, Demelza Douglas, paediatric occupational therapist and associate chief clinical information officer at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
Nicola Boyland, service lead for talking therapies, added: “Being able to offer our patients choice in how they receive care is important and video consultations plays an important role in seeing more patients, in the right place at the right time. The stress of attending appointments in person, due to having to travel or find parking often puts patients off accessing treatment.”
CEO of OX.DH, John Kosobucki, commented on the partnership: “We are thrilled to be working with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust to introduce our virtual consultations platform. This launch provides clinical teams and patients with an intuitive experience that mirrors the technology they use in their daily lives.”
Wider news on digital and data from Somerset
Earlier this year, Somerset ICS shared key updates on their cyber security strategy, with the aim to fulfil five objectives surrounding the reduction of cyber risks. The objectives outlined to achieve this include: developing and embedding a cyber aware culture; improving cyber risk visibility and management; building robust third-party assurance; prioritising collaboration; and ensuring ongoing resilience.
The ICB also highlighted progress on its Recovering Access to Primary Care programme. The ICB states that more appointments are being provided than before the pandemic, however its approach to access is wider than focusing on the number of appointments and to “promote community-based person-centred care”. Here, the ICB references as an example, to increase self-referral opportunities for patients and focus on digital innovation to improve efficiency, patient and staff experience.
On the region’s Digital, Data and Technology strategy, published with the intention of supporting communications and building a movement for change, the ICS shares how it conducted an initial assessment of “as is” capabilities, requiring an audit of technologies in use across the system, integrations, digital services, and dashboards. This included domain mapping to understand how different parts of the system work together and how that can be improved, how information moves, how business processes function, and potential future opportunities.
